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By the same Author. 



SYBIL, 

A. TRAGEDY, IN FIVE ACTS. 
1 Vol., '12m6. 



FAITH AND FANCY. 

1 Vol. 12mo, 



E V A : 



A GOBLIN ROMANCE, 



IN FIVE PARTS. 



BY 

/ 

JOHN SAVAGE, 

Author of "Sybil, a Tragedy," "Faith and Fanot," 

ETC., ETC. 



1. 



^ 



NEW YORK : 
JAMES B. KIRKER, 

(Late EDWAED DUNIGAN & BKOTHER,) 

599 Broadway, (up stairs.) 

1865. 

f 






Enterefl according to Act of Congress, In tlie year 1S64, 

Bv JOHN SAVAGE, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of 
New York. 



TO 

ROBERT SHELTON MACKENZIE, D. C. L. 

My Deak Doctok: — 

I feel a pardonable pride in offering you this little book. 
Were its merits but equal to tlie gratification experienced in 
dedicating it to you, its reputation would be a foregone conclu- 
sion, and only make me more liappy that it was in some de- 
gree worthy of your acceptance. I pray you, however, to take 
it, such as it is, as a small token of my appreciation of your in- 
defatigable labors in the cultivation and dissemination of a 
healthy and hearty Polite Literature, of your high sense of 
professional independence, and of your generosity to profes- 
sional juniors — a generosity the more gladly recorded here be- 
cause I have been a partaker of its fruits. 

Among contemporary writers, I am not aware of any more 
ready to welcome and endorse wliat yoiir j udgment recognizes 
as deserving ; or who, being forced into an opposite course, 
justifies his disapproval out of resources more complete, or by 
standards more compatible with common sense and the dig- 
nity of letters. These characteristics, so widely valued and 
respected, fortify the desire of personal regard to inscribe this 
romance with your name. 

A word as to the work itself. While illustrating the plot — 
if I may call it such — by the resources Fancy and Imagination 
conjure up as lying within the supernatural and fairy realms, 
and by the reflection of the scenery, occasion, and moods of the 
actors upon each other, I have attempted — like an old-fashioned 
«tory -teller — more than once to point a moral ; and in the cou- 
1* 



b DEDICATION. 

eluding part, to lead the mind to dwell on the still higher, 
more enduring, and more consoling teaching of Christianity, 
that, amid the vicissitudes which rack man — not the least 
crushing of which is a transition from the egotistic rapture of 
a passionate young love to the humiliating consciousness ot 
moody despair — his only comfort and lasting reward is to he 
found in the self-sacrifice, the resignation — in a word — the 
humble, but heroic virtues symbolized by The Cross. 

Accept, my dear Doctor, this dedication, with the affectionate 
esteem of 

Your Friend, 

John Savage. 

FoRDHAii, SfpUmberK, 1S65. 



EVA. 



PAET FIRST. 

I. 

The evening Snn was setting fair 

Beneath a sky of blue, 
And Natnre's charms on earth, in air, 

Were fading into dew : 

II. 

The sun's broad beams athwart did lie 
The crimson-mantled West, 

As a golden Cross of Cliiv^alry 
Charged on a purple vest : 



EVA. 

m. 

The evening star, with tender freight 

Of charitable mirth, 
Did seem to cheer and gratnlate 

The day-tired sons of earth. 



IV, 

A gentle breath the shrubs among- 

A gentle siarh of air. 
As though a gentle maiden's song 

Was lilting here and there ; 



V. 

The busy bushes keeping time, 
The tendrils join each note. 

And all is soft as silv'ry rh-ynne 
From out a silv'ry throat : 



VI. 

The grass assumes a whimpering thrill 

As through it wings the wind. 
So gently though, it scarcely speeds 
To coax a chorus from yon weeds, 
Ere all is still behind : 



EVA. 

vn. 
The dry stems wlieeze a tiny pipe 

To show they wakeful lie, 

As urchins mumble unknown type 

When pedagogue struts by : 

vm. 

The wild rose blushes on the eve 

Of going to its rest, 
And bends its crimson cheek to grieve 

On mother Eai'th's calm breast. 



IX. 

The dew steals o'er primroses pale 

Which deck yon shady place ; 
And clustering in a shy delight. 
Help to shake the tears of night 
From off each others' face : 



X. 

And hawthorn blossoms titter low, 

For fear their joyaunce reach 
The matron-hke and crabbed boughs, 
While am'roiis Air essays its vows 
And steals a kiss from each : 



10 EVA. 



XI. 



Tlie mountain Asli,gaylitlie and joung, 

Witli knowledge of its grace, 
Unheedful hears the gallant's song, 
]^or cares be won bj secret tongue, 
It bends to bolder face. 



xn. 

The evening calm as the smile of Him, 
Who said, " Thy Will be done," 

And the pious air seemed hushed in prayer 
Like a seraphic nun. 

xin. 

The scene was wild, yet Fancy made 

Its features fall of balm 
As though it joined the lengthening shade 

To make the day's death calm. 

xrv. 

In truth it was a placid scene 

Wliere awe did wonder woo : 
Yea, such as men full seldom ken 

The coming twilight through. 



EVA. 



XV 



11 



It is a brocken valley wild, 

The Dodder streaming down 
Its centre, and the monntain heath 
Envelops with a purple wreath 
Kippure's age-mottled crown. 

XVI. 

O valley ! consecrate to song, 

In poet-warrior's soul, 
Where memoi'ies of Ossian throng — 

Delightful Glan-nis-mole 1 ^ 

X\TI. 

O valley ! famed in Ancient days 

Not more by Ossian's voice, 
Than thrushes', whose bewiidermg maze 
Of melody made all thy braes 

And hundred dells rejoice. 

xvm. 

Uomantic, nigged, sombre, grand. 

The hills jut out and fall 
Into the devious vale, as though 
To stay the Dodder's reckless How : 

Which, foams, and frets, through all. 



12 EVA. 



XIX. 



They drive the stream from shore to shore ; 

It shakes with rage, then sweeps 
Around the base, with lengthenino; pace, 
With sullen surge, breaks through the gorge, 

And IVothing, onward leaps. 

XX. 

By Alyagower, clear as glass 

The pools glide smoothly free, 
Till further down, a group of rocks. 
Like bathing dwarfs, jumps up and mocks 

Their placid ecstasy. 

XXI. 

Then like branch-broken rays from sun — 
Or sparks from the blacksmith's blow — 

Or, shattered gems, they flash and run 
To frothen the angry flow. 

xxn. 

And now they chant a boisterous song, 

United, now they hymn, 
And anon they murmuring lilt along 

In the shade of yon brocken, dim. 



EVA. 13 

xxin. 

The brave ship many leagues must tack 

As air aud ocean wills ; 
So strove the river, making track 

Athrough this sea of hills. 

XXIV, 

An ivy-quilted scanty ruin 

Lies hugged i' the valley wild ; 
And tombs there tell, of all save hell 

To martyr, man, and child. 

XXV. 

In the shade of the lonely pile, 

Like life within a dream, 
In the shade of the holy aisle 

A listening to the stream — 

XXVI. 

A listening to the Dodder's woes 

A-neath the ivy green, 
A damsel and youth, the like in sooth 

I'm sure you ne'er have seen. 
2 



14 EVA. 

XXVII. 

Ye sprites, it was a dreamy scene 
And a witching wild one, too, 

Sucli as we but seldom see. 
The elfin twilight through. 



xxvin. 

The youthful maid an angel's face- 
And angel's form, I ween, 

A mingling grace lit up her face 
Of blooming ripe sixteen. 



XXIX. 

Tresses like an autumn night 
Hang o'er her foreiicdv i o ^.iay, 

Darkly rich — a pearly light 
Outlines each curling spray 



XXX. 

Eyes of such unearthly light, 
Though dark as ever wrought ; 

By Heaven ! they twist me as a sprite, 
Though I but see in thought. 



EVA, 15 

XXXI, 

Mncli more tliey twisted yon poor soul, 

Tlie brave youth by her side, 
"Whose pupils rise to the maid's dark eyes 
And in the wild glance dies, and dies 

To live in hopeful pride. 

xxxn. 

He sighs, that wily nature should 

Play freaks to show her might, 
And make in witching maidenhood 

The darkest eyes most bright. 

xxxm. 

Her forehead, as white marble, pale, 

The veins an azure river, 
Where tints of Ireland's skies prevail 

In softness, softening ever. 

XXXIV. 

Her cheeks, the dainty tenderness 

As when at morning's dawn, 
The sun-beam is shed, through a rose-leaf, red. 

On a neiffliborins: ceanavaun.^ 



16 EVA. 



XXXV. 



Her lips ! a healtlij pure repast — > 
A sylph's or mortal's, which ? 

The upper like the bright spring cast, 
The uuder autumn rich ; 



XXXVI. 

And both control a fragrant breath 
Like breeze o'er summer flowers, 

When jocund morn enliveneth 
Earth's re-awakened powers. 

xxxvn. 

Her voice was like a happy thought 
Whose speaking smile did sun you, 

And ere you beard the opening word 
The movement had undone you. 

xxxvm. 

A raiment white with girdle green 

Her dainty waist about, 
For as her heart was pure within, 

Her garb was pure without. 



EVA. 



XXXIX. 



17 



So take the fair for all in all : 

Sucli a pure thougli tempting smile, 

Ke'er shone from maid 

As on him who strayed 

Through that old monastic aisle. 



XL. 



Comely shaped the youth, and slender ; 
With four summers o'er her own : 
And ever since they gambolled 
On the hill-paths over-brambled, 
In sunny childhood's days, the tender 
Passion, with their growth had grown. 



XLT. 



Never slept it : for their sleeping 
Ne'er was by its dreams forsaken — 
Sleep, our Nature's El Dorado, 
Only held it by a shadow — 
While they gathered golden dream-tales 
To be told when they'd awaken. 



2* 



18 EVA. 

XLII. 

Thus tlieir nights were but as segments 

Of the circle of their days ; 
And their young hearts, sunny centres, 

Rich with Love's converging rays. 

XLin. 

Young Kevin Dhu, so was he hight, 

For ay, was youth as good 
As e'er bent bow on Saxon foe, 
Or boasted the commingling flow 

Of Celto-Korman blood. 

XLIV. 

His voice is full and freshly clear 

As the breeze on Comm'ragh's crown j 

His hand can harp to a maiden's ear 
Or strike a foeman down. 



XLY. 

The brown locks cluster on his brow, 
Like grapes on the brow of Pan, 

And you see a man in the youth though now 
The youth is scarcely man. 



EVA. 19 



XLVI. 



Lonely looks the ancient pile ; 

But love is lonely never, 
When loving eyes exchange the while 

The arrows from Love's quiver. 



xLvn. 

Solemn the weird and lonely scene, 
Solemn the tombs arraigned — 

It looks as Life had all buried been, 
And they alone remained. 



XLvin. 

In truth, it was a holy scene. 
And a lonely wild one too, 

Such as men full seldom ken 
The dusky twilight through. 

XLIX. 

A harp, Love's vibrant symbol, rude 
In shape, but sweet in tone, 

Lay o'er a tomb, as though its mood 
Was dirging the dead alone. 



20 EVA. 



L. 



Slie sate her down npon a tomb, 

A cross rose liigli before, 
With mossy shapes from Time's gray womb, 

Emboss'd and stained o'er. 



LI. 

" What hopes !" he cried, " what love, what truth, 
These ancient crosses speak ! 
What chastening thoughts for strength and 
youth. 
What sinews for the weak ! 



Ln. 

" With Yandal Time, their Sculptures rude 
But sacred combat well ; 
Like trusty friends, they have outstood 
The wealth that from us fell. 



Lin. 

" ' Twould seem the eenturied bones beneath, 
With strength of faith had grown 
To mark the true soul's hope in death, 
And rose in sculptured stoue. 



EVA. 
LIV. 



21 



" Ye granite graybeards of the past 
Who watch our kindred o'er, 
With us may e'er thy teachings last, 
That we the Cross adore. 



LV. 

" These crosses, like great note-marks, stand 
O'er all the Celtic sod, 
Grown gray in agony of love 
Keferring us to God l" ^ 



LVI. 

And then, as dropping in the tide 
Of thought his fei-vor sprung. 

The youth in Celtic anguish sighed 
Its mysty waves among. 



Lvn. 

'Twas but a moment, though it seemed. 

In retrospection, years, 
And waking from the life he dreamed — 

Ancestral blood and teai-s — 



1 



22 EVA. 

Lvm. 

He leaned against the carven cross, 

That rood of holy stone, 
In love's weird tremors both at loss. 

To clami each heart their own. 

LIX. 

He brushed his brow, he snatched his harp, 

A prelude wildly rang ; 
Then melting to a plaintive width 

Of soul, he to her sang : 

A love-lorn minstrel once there dwelt, 

In a valley fair to view. 
Whose young rapt soul and senses knelt, 

A heavenly maid to woo. 
His love was fierce as Saint Kevin's hate,* 

Pure as yon spring of Saint Ann, — 
He loved with the fervor soul doth create, 

As a minstrel only can. 

(II.) 
He roamed like spirit called from earth, 
Chimed from its grave of rest. 



EVA. 23 

Penance to eke for some worldlie mirth, 

Or for some act un blest : 
For his love was fierce as Saint Kevin's hate, 

Killing as e'en the Saint's ban : 
Oft voiceless, his was an ideal state 

Of loving, as minstrel can. 

(m.) 

He tracked her steps, o'er vale and hill, 

True as the shadow she made ; 
He blessed the sod whereon she trod. 

And the breeze that round her played. 
For never to him had the sense of soimd 

So lovingly tender grown. 
As when the air, caressing the fair. 

Partook of her dulcet tone. 

(IV.) 

The Holy Well at which she drank 

To him more holy grew 
Each tree that gave her shade, each bank 

She rested on, he knew ! 
For he gazed on his love as Martyr would 

On the hope that raised his soul. 
And his eyes to her rolled as the halo should 

Kound the head of the Virgin roll. 



24 EVA. 

Oh, this maid was his sole divinity I 

A model for aye far above 
Aught his brain, in its minstrel affinity 

To heaven, could weave for his love ! 
And he loved her as Kate loved Saint Kevin, 

And he traced her as dial the sun ; 
For at morning, at noon, or at even, 

By either you'd find t'other one. 

(VI.) 

And though they had gambolled in youthhood. 

From childhood to each other clung. 
Yet neither had strength in their truthhood, 

I^or perfectly freedom of tongue : 
For love, when it grows up from childhood, 

Ne'er thinks to seek deeper the clue. 
But looks on each face as the wildwood, 

Where unconscious their heart-flowers grew. 

And though he had laughed forth his fancies. 
And though she reechoed his tale, 

Tet for one word each heart inward glances — 
That one word of blessing or bale. 



EVA. 25 

LX. 



" All, sad is the time !" spake Eva, 
" When hearts are unconsciously tost ; 
'Twere better that one should have spoken 
Than voiceless that both should be lost. 



LXI. 



" Ah," sighed she, " I pain for the maiden !" 
"And I," quoth he, " wail for the youth !" 
"And did neither make them an Aiden, 
By shriving the other from ruth ? 



Lxn. 



" And did neither think of presuming 

On friendship that from their birth grew ?" 

" Ah, no !" said the young bard resuming 
His harp, and its love-burdened clue : 

" Though the youth but in her saw his heaven, 
Still spake not, or heard not the word / 
For," he faltered, " the youth's name was Kevin, 
And — Eva, the maid he adored !" 



26 EVA. 

Lxni. 

With modest, not unconscious air, 

Dear Eva heard him close : — 
And looked, but spoke not, worlds of prayer, 

That only true love knows. 



LXIV. 

She felt — she knew, she had his heart, 
And that it spake through her, 

And waited her responsive part 
From Idm^ — nor dared to stii*, — 



LXV. 

Nor dared to stir, lest she displace 

The accents she well knew 
Her heart must make ; but woke apace 

To her own maiden view. 



Lx\^. 

" Ah, Kevin ! in ray maiden soul 
Is the heart that I bereft 
Thee of — that I, unconscious, stole, 
Yet, willing for the theft : 



EVA. ^%,^ 

Lxvn. 



" Ay, willing for tlie tlieft ! O youth, 
O Kevin clear ! 'tis frail 
That Eva's tongue should tell ; but truth 
And love's a sad tell-tale." 



Lxvin. 



" Angel of Eva ! let me hear 

Those kindling thoughts again ; 
That Hope's clear light may shame the bier 
Where chilling Doubt lies slain !" 



LXIX. 



" My Kevin dear, fain would I tell, — 
My tongue but shames its place, 
My lips but mock the inward spell 
That needs would outward trace. 



LXX. 



" My heart is throbbing like a sea, 

And could sea span the skies above,. 
I feel its vast innnensity 

Could not cradle half my love." 



28 



EVA. 
LXXI. 



Entranced in her speech, he gazed 
As though a statue still — 

Or like a breathless sculptor, dazed 
At his creative skill. 



Lxxn. 



But suddenly he started, — bright, 
His thankful gestures spoke, 

As vocui as a host of light. 
In cave dawn never woke. 



Lxxin. 



His harp fell on the tufted moss, 
His tongue seemed in his fingers,' 

That motion all his words, — at loss 
While speech on his dumb mouth lingers. 



Lxxrv. 



He wrapt her to his burning breast, 
That love should fear no cheating ; 

He prest her, that each pledging test 
Should feel each other beating. 



EVA. 31 



PART SECOND. 



As thus the pah* entranced were, 
Each with the other's love ; 

TJnseen, unheard, about them there 
A horrid pageant wove. 



n. 

Old name-lost tombs 'gan start to life — 
The dead 'gan hobbling out. 

Martyrs and monks, and man and wife, 
To witness what they're about. 



m. 

As lumberlngly moved the mounds 
That did the ground encumber. 

The headstones cracked their lichen skins, 
And yawn'd, like sots in slumber. 



32 EVA. 

lY. 

Old battered memories on the walls, 
Took shape and left their places ; 

Crushed effigies in crumbling stalls, 
Kesumed their forms and faces. 



V. 

And skeletons helped with rattling noise 
To empty each other's graves, 

To witness the troth and hear the voice 
Of love that daintily raves. 

VI. 

The oldest trees did shake and quake 

Up to their farthest shoots, 
As each skeleton pulls 
Might and main for the skulls, 

Meshed in the tangled roots. 

vn. 

You'd think it was a lashing hail 

Upon the branching eaves ; 
Or wild despoiling autumn gale 

A throttling all the leaves. 



EVA. 29 

LXXV. 

Exchanged troths of love were given, 

And Echo sealed each tone, 
Before the Cross, and the holy heaven, 

In the ivied ruin lone. 



EVA. 33 

viir. 

And while the groups are gathering round 

From out their dim abodes, 
The woes and state of some create 

Grim ghastlj episodes. 



IX. 

A horrid shape from the path to hell 
Escaped to quench his thirst, 

For his inside scorch 'd as flames do dwell 
In house pent ere thej burst. 



X. 

He came to drink of the mystic Well 
Blessed by the good Saint Ann, 

Whose waters boast the purest spell 
From Tallaght to Lough Dan.^ 



XI. 

And deftly to the holy pool 
This ghastly shape forsooth 

Did speed, with shrined wave to cool 
His hellish scorching di'outh. 



34 EVA. 

xn. 

He snatched tlie bowl from the holy stone, 
And dived it in the Well ; 
But yet while there flew 
His pr.rched frame through 
A bliss from the hoped-for spell, 
A hurrying sprite 
Dashed the cup from his sight, 
And he felt o'er again jDangs of hell. 



XIII. 

Oh could he but drink of the shriving wave, 

'T would give him the freedom of soul 
To think of a lieav'n ; his body 'twould save 
From the torturing pangs of a hell-bound grave 
He snatches again at the bowl. 



XIV. 

Is it Saint Ann ? or a guarding band ? 

Or hath he a soul conscience-barred ? 
Again the cup from his flaming hand 

Is dashed by some unseen guard — 



EVA. 

xv. 



35 



And a voice, like the rending of great forest oaks, 

Begat on his ear, with a yell, 
The sentence of Fate— "Hence slave to your 
state 

And your purgatorial cell." 



XVI. 



He shrunk aback, as his head had been 
Clove with Saint Peter's key. 

And he durst not look, for bell and book 
Had told him where he would be. 



xvn. 



And a group kept watching a tomb in the aisle, 
And they grinned a wrathful, vengeful smile. 
In wait for its inmate's skull ; 
For he was a lord. 
Whose only word 
Was of hate to the poor. 
And death to the boor 
Who made not his door 
And halls with venison full ; 



36 EVA. 

xvm. 

And oft had tliis baron been known to brag:, 
The number of vassals he clove with his mace ; 

And he took less delight racing after the stag, 
Than he did in staying the human race. 

XIX. 

And one yelled forth a merry stave, 
A hundred choruss'd the verse ; 

And from under a cowl, 

A relentless jowl 
Mumbled a hopeful curse. 



XX. 

And one whose flesh was half decayed 
Poured forth a troublous groan, 

Which shook the slime from his wormy side, 
And bared it to the bone. 



XXI. 

Some had on cerements gray, which flapped 
As loose sails on the spars of a ship ; 

And some, half-rotted on what they wrapped. 
Were as cobwebs caught on a chip. 



EVA. d1 

XXII. 

One looked at her tomb as at her glass, 
Ne'er doubting herself 'twould bear, 

But she yelled her joy 

At the fond foul lie 
Her husband had sculptured there. 

xxni. 

And calling a troupe of like wild wives. 

She bade them see themselves — 
All scampered away as they did in their lives — 

A pack of mad vain elves. 

XXIV. 

And they laughed, did this brood of wanton 
wives. 
At their sculptured acts, and cried — 
" Ho ! ho ! for those who have led good lives. 
They'll have no surprise when they've died." 

XXV. 

And as the " Yes" from Eva's mouth 

Proclaimed young Kevin's bride. 
All swirled as though the grapes of the South 

Were gurgling their skulls inside. 
4 



EVA. 



XXVI. 



And a jolly mob around the pair 

Prankt madly in a reel, 
And chattered, and bowed, and flattered aloud, 

The lovers with devilish zeal. 



XX vn. 



But lovers' eyes, though ope are blind, 

And lovers' ears are deaf; 
'Tis but in loving lovers find 

Love's grief or love's relief. 



xxvm. 

Young Kevin clasped the maid again, 
The embrace was soft and sweet ; 

The bubbling love of the wooers twain, 
At parting was as they'd meet. 



XXIX. 

And as love'-s tender stupor sheds 
Its filmy mask, they thought 

The air was dotted with strange heads, 
And with strange noises fraught. 



EVA. 39 



XXX. 



Tlieir skinny digits clasping fast, 
The mouldy dancers spin 

Swiftly past — their skulls are cast 
Into one circling grin. 



XXXI. 

The fluttering Eva nestled close 

Unto her Kevin's breast, — 
They soothed the sudden fears that rose, 

By being both caressed. 



xxxn. 

" The noise" — it was the weary breeze, 

Or Dodder's plaining tones : 
" The faces" — moonshine through the trees 

Upon the quaint old stones. 



XXXIII. 

And wilder, swifter speed the wraiths, 

As on a whirlpool leaves. 
Until they fade, and the speering maid 

Feels she herself deceives. 



4:0 EVA. 



XXXIV. 



The moon breaks from her camp of clouds, 
And roams the clear expanse ; 

The ghosts glide into their slimy shrouds, 
Tired with the trysting dance. 



EVA. 41 



PART THIRD. 



The moon was taking lier highest roll, 
And the light from her regnant head, 

Enwrapped the stars, like a mighty scroll, 
With eternity's language spread. 



n. 

The crystal blue of the ambient sky, 
The crystal light of the moon. 

The crystal note of the black-bird nigh, 
Makes echo a crystal tune. 



m. 

Tlie stars like strings of a heavenly lyre, 

Swept by the hands of Night, 

Fill with joy the cathedral choir ; 

And echo is turned to light. 
4* 



42 EVA. 



IV. 



And down tlie moonliglit flutes tlie air, 
Eacli beam a choral column ; 

And earth's calm but responsive prayer 
Blends in the midnight solemn. 



And heavenly smiles and earthly thanks 
In their descent and upward flight, 

Pass in joyed and bowed ranks 
Through night's corridors of light. 



VI. 

The wakeful crags, Kippure's broad brow 

Stand out in bright relief, 
Attendant on the moon ; and throw 

The glens in shadowed grief. 



vn. 

Scarce a stir was up in the air, 
Scarce a stir on the earth. 

Save lyrical rills from the elfin hills 
Gamb'llinsr in wildsome mirth. 



EVA. 43 

VIII. 

They staved and raved adown the stones, 

A stop-note every pebble, 
To quiver the chant into tinJiling tones 

Of a dulcet treble. 

IX. 

At the time of fair Eva's vows 

To Kevin's love-lit power, 
The elfin queen her courtiers did rouse 

To meet over Alyagower. 

X. 

Bustling, yet noiseless, came along 

The elves from midnight sprees, 
Lowly but sweet as ever was song 

They lilted their gathering glees : 
So genial the flow, so num'rous the throng, 

It was as a perfumed breeze — 
Or, like a forethought of Zephyr's song, 

Balmy, without the breeze. 

XI. 

As diamond thoughts in quaint bard's brain, 

This aeriel world 'gan float ; 
And linked, as the gems of a fountain rain 

By the mist, with a dewy note. 



M EVA. 



xn. 



A haze of sound enwrapped the elves 
As the mist o'er a wayward stream ; 

They must have thought, the imps themselves, 
They were in an elfin dream. 



xm. 

And hither they come, so various dight- 
So brilliant tlieir guises were. 

It was as a sudden May that night, 
And they the flow'rs o' the air. 



xrv. 

Spirit of Heath and Daisy-dew, 

And tiny Blue-bell first, 
Bounding came, with the elfin crew, 

That followed in a bm-st. 



XV. 

Honey-snckle and Primrose-tip, 

Arm in arm, I wist — 
And Evening-sigh and Tulip-lip, 

And the Fog-sprite, Dodder-mist : 



EVA. 45 

XVI. 

Jessamine-breath and Woodbine-brow, 

Blessing each other's way, 
And Honey-tongue and Folks-glove^ now, 

And many a valley fay : 



XVII. 

The scarlet Dragon's-head came up, 

And Morning-glory too, 
Bearing a monstrous purple cup 

Gleaming with nectrous dew : 



xvm. 

And Apple-bloom so lustrous white, 

Like little bride of old ; 
And Dandelion, like ancient king. 

With collar of yellow gold : 



XIX. 

And from the Dodder's coolest vale 
The Brook-elf, braw and stout. 

In armor made of a silver scale 
Dropped from a river trout : 



46 EVA. 



XX. 



The imp of glens, wild Thatchet-thorn, 

Reckless, rollicking sprite, 
Came puffing, like a November morn 

Hunted by autumn night : 



XXI. 



The Moon-elf with a bright'ning eye, 
And never a wink, came in ; 

He trimm'd the starry lamjjs on high, 
And shaded the ways of sin. 



xxu. 



And Poppy-stem with night-cap red, 

A drowsy pace did take ; 
But Moon-elf kicked and Thatchet pricked 

The imp to keep him awake. 



xxm. 

And hosts of elfin chiefs appeared 

Of marvellous renown, 
And fairy seannachies^with beards 

Of silver thistle-down. 



EVA. 4:1 

xxrv. 
Oh, myriads cam-e, of goblin fame, 

From glen-embower'd ways, 
Where cascades keep the hills from sleep, 

In witching Wicklow's praise ; 
From Dodder's nooks, and brawling brooks, 

And Liifey's fairy braes. 

XXV. 

They came t. a tower, 'tween heav'n and earth, 

Built in the dewy air ; 
The dreamliest space that fanciful mirth 

Could deem for a court so rare. 

XXVI. 

They carried a cloud away up to the moon 

And trailed it across the light, 
So the beam from below, and the beam from aboon, 

Made a floor and a ceiling bright. 

XXVII. 

And they sprent the floor with gathered dews 
Which shone like a pavement of gems, 

And arcVd columns made 

Of the clear cascade, 
Caught ere it broke in diadems. 



48 EVA. 

XXVIII. 

From quarried mines of perfume, the walls- 
The casement of spider's web, quaint, 
And the toiling stars 
Snatch a peep through the bars, 
And pale at their own restraint. 

XXIX. 

And o'er the throne of Cleena the queen, 
In the nave of this fairy pile, 

A tulip leaf rained 

Its hues, like the stained 
Glass saints in cathedral aisle. 

XXX. 

Thus met, the queen w^ith an airy tongue, 
Like a sweet voice heard in a dream. 

Half cadenced her will, half liltingly sung_ 
Yet singing it only did seem. 

XXXI. 

Oh, her's was the sweetest, 
Richest, completest, 
Most musical, magic, and dearest, 
M}'stic and lowly, 
Swelling but slowly. 
The warmest of voices, and clearest ! 



EVA. 4:9 

XXXII. 

" Sisters and brothers — subjects all, 

From Tallaglit to Kippure, 
From the dusky valleys, 
Where the sunset rallies, 
All our gallant armies to my evening call — 
From the heathy hill-side, 
From the dreamy rill-side, 
From the spray entrancing. 
In the star-light glancing, 
O'er the rocky barriers in the Dodder's way, — 
Ye, my loved and loving. 
Ye, the spry and roving. 
Ye, that know a living dead to things of clay, 
Ye, from Tallaght's meadows. 

To the bleak Kijipure, 
Ye, I want — my shadows ! 

A maiden to secm*e. 



xxxm. 

" Cluricauns from haunted Brake, 
Fays of Alyagower, 
I've a maid frdm earth to take 
Worthy fairy power. 



^5 



50 EVA. 

XXXIV. 

'' "Wild elves from the witcli'd Cornaun 
Whose broad brow the thunder mocks, 
And all ye that wraithe Glaneree, 

Or guard the lonely haunted Loughs, — ' 



XXXV. 

" Where the eagle mountain stands 
O'er the dismal wave below ; 
Like man's suicidal thought 

Brooding flight from earthly wo : 



XXXVI. 

" There is a maid of mildest mien. 
But radiant in its mildness ! 
Loving and loved in the bounds atween, 
Where we hold our wildness." 



XXXVII. 

"I saw — I spied (and laughed in pride), 
As I skipt o'er yon ruin," 
Said Thatchet-thorn, holding his side, 
" Twain Gaffers there a wooin'." 



EVA. 51 

XXXVIII. 

" Ha ! ha ! Oh Berry," Thatchet scritched, 
"An elf with hum- drum twisting 
The otiier dainty hoyden witched, 
And she said, ' No resisthig !' 

XXXIX. 

" I feth it was a moutiiful speck, 
I wiss to see them" — 

" Hold sir, 
Chain thy tongue or I'll instant wreck 
Thy chine, for being bold, sir." 

XL. 

Thatchet sneak'd off in the crowd 

Under the wing of a fly, 
And he tickled the fly's kind shroud, 

For tears came in laughter's eye. 

XLT. 

" As I gamboll'd and caught the dew," 
Quo' the Queen, — " to deck om* halls, 
The prancing gnats my chariot drew 
Above yon ivied walls. 



62 EVA. 



XLH. 



" Oil, Lily-till t ! Oh, Honey-tongue ! 
Sucli a face and form — so airy, 
As were those ruins old among ! 
She should have been a fairy. 



xLiir. 



" And by her side was a hend youth, who 
"Was pleading love distressing, 
And with harmonious plaining, too, 
He charmed the maid,'s caressing. 



XLIV. 



" She is too fair for mortal man, 
Too bright for earthly life, 
More formed for elfin joyaunce than 
Queen of a heart-ache strife." 



XLV. 



(" An' ay, besides," cried Thatchet-thom, 
" 'Twill wrath the youtli most drearily, 
For which Fd spree ten moons to see — 
An' that I would most cheerily !") 



EVA. 53 

XLVI. 

" We must save her ! we must liave lier, 
Ere tlie dews of evening fall, 
On to-morrow, and I'll borrow^ 
All your freaks to aid mj call." 

"Ho! ho!" yell'd, merrily, Thatehet. 

XLvir. 

" We must save her ! we must have her, 
Ere the lovers meet again. 
And we'll bring her, and we'll sing her 
Fairy songs of soothing strain." 

"I fecks we will !" quo' Thatcliet. 

XLvin. 
" And we'll charm her, but not harm her. 
To forget all ties of earth ; 
Eor we'll spell-bind, ay, and well bind 
All our arts to cause her mirth." 

" An' I'm your man !" quo' Thatehet. 

XLIX. 

" We, you Thatchet-thorn commission— 
Thatehet hst, you wayw^ard wight — 
To bethink and twist our wish on 
Witching this young maiden bright. 



EVA. 



L. 

" Good lack, ah me! ho, ho ! — Wliat now?" 
Laughed Thatchet — '^^Thafs jour measure !" 
And he smoothed a wrinkle on old Time's brow 
With a loud smack of pleasure. 



LI. 

The wily, revelling devil. Thorn, 
8wung wild in a cohweb's loop ; 

A rakish imp as ever was bom, 
On the spider he sat with a " Whoop 1" 



Ln. 

" All the Spreethogue elves ye ken, 
From Lough Bray to Kill-tipper, 
Shall follow Thatchet, through fen and glen, 
To aid the imp to clip her." 



LHI. 

Thatchet in glee, was tumbling round, 

The cap of a queen-bee's knee ; 
So joyous was he to be crown'd, 
Leading a prank in fairy ground, 
And scritched right gleefully ! 



EVA. 55 

LIV. 

"Hif>, do dun! 
'Tis said — she's won ! 
I'll smother my feet in the thistle-down, 

Or skate on the snail's bright track, 
Or, I'll hide in the pond'rous skin-cloak, brown, 

Flayed from the wood-mouse' back ! 
Or, I'll straddle on spider's crup, as he weaves 

In the nave of yon ruin his thread — 
Or, I'U lie in amidst of two wild mint leaves, 
And roll to a noon-eyed bed. 

I'U watch her — I'll catch her — 

I will! I will! 
Through alley or valley, 
In bower or hill ! 
I see her ! I feel her ! I have her ! ha, ha !" 
And he sprang at his joyous note, 
And he laughed, till all doubt 
Such a loud elfin's shout 
Leaped from an elfin throat. 

LV. 

" Ha ! ha !" — laughed he, as he woke the light 
Of a star that slept on the pavement, 
And he tumbled him round 
To a jocular sound. 
Regardless of court behavement. 



66 EVA. 



LVI. 



" Hey, in the ruin, 
Lovers will be wooing 

Little guessing, 

In caressing, 
"What the elves are doing, 



»• 



"He J, in the even. 
Lovers will be grieving, 

Little knowing 

"What is growing 
For tlieir hearts' deceiving. 

" By the set of sun 
To-morrow, she's won ! 

" For o'er the bog. 
Or through the fog, 
Under the hill, 
Over the rill, 
Li the moonlight. 
Or the noonlight. 
Bat's wing riding. 
Owl's beak chiding. 
On Pooka prancing. 
Or star-light dancing, 



EVA. 5 

Whatever ye wot 
On earth, or be not, 
Eft soon that it is, 
For Tliatchet, I wis, 
Is the sprite that is here 
To eke whatever ye ken ! 
For aught be it murky, or yea be it clear^ 

I'm slave to tlie Queen o' the glen ! 
Be it done in a moon's or sun's career, 
I'm slave to the Queen o' the glen !" 

Lvn. 

" Hail to our Cleena, Queen o' the glen," 
Shouted the elves and fairy land then. 
Up took the echo, and out-sped again — 

" Hail to our Cleena, Queen o' the glen." 



EVA. 59 



PART FOURTH. 



The niglit is gone, tlie morning past, 
And tliat noon dead forever ; 

And evening comes, like a shadow cast, 
Time's brighter tints to sever. 



n. 

An evening like the yester one, 
A calm and balmy eve. 

Like nun, afraid that sighing tone 
Would make her bosom heave. 



ni. 

All was still as a sleeping fair, 
Placid with heav'nly dreaming. 

Whose visions of bliss to her fancy were 
Double their actual seemino-. 



60 EVA. 



IV. 



The gentle Eva fortli had sped, 

To meet her idoll'd lover ; 
The daisy bent not beneath her tread, 

As Innocence did above her. 



V. 



Two genial faces-mider-a-hood, 
Drinking the welcome dew, 

Seemed, in a joy of brotherhood. 
Toasting her beauty too. 



VI. 



The Cowslip and the Buttercup, 

They bowed a silent bliss, 
And Forget-me-not, in the lonely spot, 

Stole from the sod a kiss. 



VII. 



Fond memory's emblatic elf, 

He noted the passing one, 
And kissed, in lieu the charmer's self. 

The ground she trod upon. 



EVA. 61 



VIII. 



And thus the plants, in each other's joy, 
Show how they felt for hers, 

And kissed once more, as she tript o'er, 
With the zeal of worshippers ! 



IX, 

The meadow-sweet waved like a bridal plume ; 
And the streamlet by the path 

Kejit on a wild pace, 

To be snnn'd by her face, 
Such radiance its beauty hath. 



Now was her heart a brimful cup. 
With Love's delicious presence. 

And thoughts of Kevin bubbled up 
To the top of the sparkling essence. 



XT. 

Her bearing bright, her footstep light 

As a May-wafted feather; 

She seemed a humanized delight. 

As skipt she o'er the heather. 
G 



62 EVA. 



XII. 



And oh, why should slie not present 

Incarnate love and rapture ? 
Loving and loved — with two joys sprent, 

Yielding, and making a capture ! 



XIII. 



'Tis only thus that true Love's years 
Roll free of pain and sin — 

The sin of doubt : who happy wears 
Love's crown, must yield to win. 



XIV. 



And oh ! Heaven help the loving heart 
That meets no love in turn, 

And send its light, to save from blight 
That passion-bursting urn. 

XV. 

The heart that links unto a heart, 

Unknowing if it beats. 
May never find, its once clear mind, 

And peace it never meets — • 
Earth has no future for its kind ; 

No past, but killing sweets. 



EVA. 63 



XVI. 



But Eva, blessing in her love, 

Was bless'd in her adorer ; 
The present seem'd but as Peter's gate 

To the heavenly fate before her. 



XVII. 

As moved she down the hilly side, 
Like blossom weather-wafted, 

Crowning the air with double pride 
Of fragrance then engrafted — 



xviir. 

A charming strain falls on her ear, 

A thrilling measure 'tis, 
And tender, too. She stay'd to hear- 

" Ah ! yes, 'tis surely his ! 



XIX. 

" Ah, yes— it must be Kevin's harp ! 
It is that love-lorn strain 
He often plays." She eager stays 
To cat(!li the loved refrain. 



64 EVA, 



XX. 



And yet she stays : adown her head 
Low bent, as joyed she grew, 

And hands upraised, as though they said- 
"• Hush, birds, and listen too !" 



xxr. 



The strain swept on — sweet harmony — 

The maiden soul held still. 
As though each magic symphony 

Could chain or free at will. 



XXII. 



" Now shall I give my love surprise !" 
And roimd she sprang in glee ; 
But nothing there stood proof her eyes, 
And wonder-struck was she. 



XXIII. 



Wonder struck was the maiden young, 

At her deceit of ee ; 
But a voice yet sung, and a harp still rung, 

And still the strain hears she. 



iTvA. 65 



XXIV. 

Yea, still its ripples lave lier ears, 
More dulcet than before, 

And every wave of sound she hears 
Is met by an eager shore. 



XXV. 

ISTow plaintive rose the witching lay, 
And now a subdued splendor 

Trids the dulcet anguisli through. 
So passionately tender : 



XXVI. 

And now a voice of sadness pours 

Its soul upon the air ; 
While the maiden stays as one delays 

On last words of a prayer. 



(.1.) 
Where is my darling — 
Oh, where is her shadow? 
Is she in the meadow, 
Singing with the starling ? 
6* 



66 EVA. 



Is slie by the river ? — 
Is slie mid the trees ? — 

Ah ! my heart is ever 
Searching her and ease. 



(n.) 

I've heard the starling, 
I've been in the meadow, 
But saw not the shadow 
Of Eva my darling. 
She's not by the water — 

She's not in the wood — 
Thro' the trees I've sought her, 
And down by the flood. 



(III.) 

I told the starling 

To sing out my maiden ; 
Robin, too, is laden. 
With news for my darling; 
And the little sparrow 

That chirps in the thatch, 
And swallow,- fleet as arrow, 
Go my love to catch. 



EVA. 67 

(IV.) 

I told the starling, 

Sparrow, and the swallow, 
Ere they went to follow, 
Where Fd meet my darling : 
Kot in fields of clover, 
Neither in the bower, 
ITor by rushing rover, 
But here^ at this hour. 

XXVII. 

" JJTow shall I give my love surprise !" 
And round she tript in glee ; 
But nothing there stood proof her eyes, 
And wonder struck was she. 

XXVIII. 

But still the air with song is fraught, 

Making sweet the gloaming ; 
'Tis plain the singer's anxious thought 

But echoes to his roaming. 

XXIX. 

"iTo^ in fields of clover. 
Neither in the hower, 
Nor hy rushing rover, 
But here, at this hov/r.^^ 



68 EVA. 



XXX. 



Kow Eva deftly stole along — 
Softly crept the maiden — 

Aside the brake, tlie shrubs among, 
Her breath love-ful laden. 



XXXI. 

Scarcely breathing crept she, listening — 
Catching whence the sounds arose ; 

Her love-laughing eyes were glistening, 
At the sight they will disclose. 

XXXII. 

Her thoughts were laughing amongst them- 
selves — 

To steal so — such a treat ! . 
Little thought she, the airy elves 

Were laughing at Love's defeat. 

XXXIII. 

Little she dreamt that an elfin harp, 
Tuned to a mortal ear. 
Was pilf 'ring the store. 
At the sill of Love's door, 
And making the door a bier. 



EVA. 69 



XXXIV. 



''^Not infields of clover, 
Neither in the hoioer, 
Nor hy rushing rover, 
But here, at this hour^ 



XXXV. 



More sorrowful tlie voice became, 
In grief at lier not coming ; 

Now near it wails, in a tone of blame, 
Now at a distance humming. 



XXXVI. 



Behind her once it moaned in j^ain. 
And then it crooned before her ; 

By her side, anon, as though the strain 
Would weave a madness o'er her. 



XXXVII. 

On she sprang, with Hope's wild strength — 

Round she trod the strain : 
To right trod she — to left trod she, 

And trod all o'er ajj-ain. 



70 • EVA. 



XXXVIII. 



Till wearied out, her tender frame, 

By longing hope deferred. 
She sank down on the spot — the same 

Where first the tune she heard. 



XXXIX. 

As though her mother Earth would bear 



Some comfort to her dearth, 



As Indian catches in his ear, 
The presence of some mortal near, 
By listening to the earth. 



XL. 



And thoughts rose up within her lips, 
To tell what anguish wrung 

Her heart, but fell, as fountain drips, 
Back to whence they sprung. 



XLI. 

For beat her heart so piteously, 
No word could dare essay, 

To fill its grief, or sorrow dree, 
Or soothe its woes away. 



EVA. 71 



XLII. 



And as she lay, tlie song once more 
Burst in upon her swoon, 

As the mystic fire that revels o'er 
The dismal-faced lagoon : 



XLHI. 



''''Not infields of clover^ 

Neither in the Ijower, 
Nor hj rushing rover ^ 
But here, at this hourP 



XLIV. 



And as bright morning bursts from night, 
Sweet words escaped her gloom — 

" And I am here, ray Kevin dear, 
I'm thine unto the tomb." 



XLV. 



Her thought so spread her lifeless form, 

It shook lier till she wake ; 
And lo ! as sun o'er March cloud dun, 

Her love bounds o'er the brake. 



72 EVA. 

XL VI, 

And quickly raised was Eva fair, 

Unto his sheltering heart ; 
And nestling there, as thought in speech- 
The heaven she had pined to reach — 

She prayed they " never part." 

XLVII. 

" And are you mine ?" 

" Thine, only thine! 
Ay, darling youth, forever! 
The earth holds not, so fair a lot. 
That coDld me from thee sever!" 



XLvni. 

" Oh, speak on yet — my Eva, yet — 

Why should such sun -thoughts dally :" 
" I am thine," she cried, " while the sky is blue, 
Or the Dodder its Glan-nis-mole sings through ; 
While the seasons roll, and the loving birds 
Warble to each their aerial words ! 
Though death should come, my love still true, 
As the tree to the sod from which it grew — 
While those darling hills — those elf-bound hills. 
Embrace with calm shadows their offspring rills, 



EVA. ?3 



Or Kippure, like an aged parent fills 
The throne of state, 
With pride elate, 
And fatherlj views the valley 1" 



XLIX. 

" Mine — only mine ?" 

" Forever thine !" 

And she clung around the youth 
With the fervor which betrays itself. 

Supporting a woman's truth. 



He kissed her, and excess of joy 

So wrought, when strength liad gone, 

She felt that dizziness which doubts 
The fact one gazes on. 



LI. 

She felt as lifted from the sod 
Into his dear embrace — 

But were it clouds her Kevin trod, 
She'd tread the self-same place. 



74 EVA. 



Ln. 



Half waking from her swoon of heart, 

She feels her in the air, 
Mid myrial crowds that nimbly part, 

To make her pathway there. 



Lin. 



Around, the sky — ^below, dim void — 

And up she's onward driven : 
'Tis a dream, like those her childliood enjoyed- 

Dreaming of going to heaven. 



LIV. 



But round quaint little spectres flit. 
Like motes in her bright splendor ; 

With jocund songs and gleeful wit, 
And fragile shapes so tender. 



LV. 



And hither they run, and thither they run 
In vain their glee to smother ; 

And air looked a moving mine of gems. 
As they pelt dew at each other. 



EVA. 75 

LVI. 

She clasped her arms about the youth, 

To feel had she been sleeping, 
Full pure in confidence and truth, 

Of safety in his keeping. 

Lvir. 
'Tis surely all some witching dream, 

Else her eyes need heart's upbraiding. 
For Kevin, like tlie mist on stream. 

From her wild clasp is fading : 

LVIII. 

As shadow deftly fades away, 

When light approaches clearer-, 
Her opening gaze the maid betrays — 

No youthful Kevin's near her. 

LIX. 

The shape she prcst to her maiden breast 

Has dwindled like a flower. 
And left but a wizened, withered stem — 
She sees the elves — she has heard of them. 
Her whole life crowds in a frantic thought, 
And crushes her as the truth is caught : 



^Q EVA. 

" Ob, hope belied — ob, Love," sbe cried, 
" I have madly leased my soul from you, 
Wbile tbe Dodder runs and the sky is blue !*' 
And swooned in tbe elfin power. 



LX. 

And wildly laugbed imp Tbatcbet tben — 

He roaring and running by fits, 
Till e'en tbe elf-train, tbougbt again and again 

He'd lose bis elfin wits. 



LXI. 

Still alluring, still sbe follows 
In tbe love-struck elfin trance, 

Far beyond tbe cloudy bollows, 
To wbere vagrant pbmets dance. 



LXII. 

Once they rested bigb in tbe blue, 
To scbool tbeir wondering care ; 

And Time a lengtby cobweb tbrew, 
To teacii ber to walk tbe air. 



EVA. 77 

LXIII. 

Ill vast circles gathering round her, 

. As the systems round the sun, 
Endless splendors hold, astound her — 
Still beginning, never done. 



LXR\ 

Moving like vast seas of brilliants. 
Each contributing its liffht 

To the forming of a circle. 
That shuts out forever Nio-ht. 

o 



LXV. 

Still revolving, glittering onward, 
High they chant a fairy glee, 

As they pass, the echo, gone-ward. 
Answers to her — " Who are ye ?" 



(I.) 
"We are Faeries — gleesome Faeries ! 

From the haunted raths below ; 
We are Faeries — tricksy Faeries, 

From the glistening peaks of snow. 



78 EVA. 

From the far liills to the valley, 
From the valley to the shore, 
And from shore to shore we rally, 
Never less, and evermore ! 
From the far light 

Of Aurora, 
From the star-light 

To the earth — 
From the sprye-lands 

Of rich Flora, 
To the sky -lands. 
We hold mirth ! 

(n.) 
We may caper on the sunbeam. 

Or rest behind the moon. 
When the pleasaunce of our night-dream 

Ushers in a lazy noon ; 
We raise a monument of dew. 
Distilled from aerial flowers, 
And joys like these arc waiting you. 
And every charm that's ours. 
From the icebergs 

Of,tlie Yikings — 
From the spice-bergs 
Of the East— 



EVA. 70 

To the Prairies, 

Are the likings, 
For the Faeries' 

Glorious feast ! 

(m.) 
We may stretch a bridge from pole to pole. 

Wing earth, and all that's in it. 
Over the spheres, or romid we can roll, 

Or pass through in a minute. 
We are Faeries — happy Faeries !' 

Giddy, tinted shades of dew : 
Whose ever-bursting joy ne'er varies, 
But to double — so shall you ! 
From the prism al 
Sun -light glory. 
To the dismal 

Caves of earth — 
From the Flood-god's 

Saga's hoary. 
To the Wood-gods, 
Give us mirth ! 
We are Faeries — ^happy Faeries, 

Kings of earth and sea and blue ; 
Whose ever-burstmg joy ne'er varies, 
But to double — so shall you ! 



80 EVA. 

LXVI. 

" I fecks you will," quo' Thatcliet. " True ! 
And if you best have a mate 
Like me," and lie kissed young Daisy-dew, 
Who dealt him a box on the pate. 



Lxvn. 

Eva was listless of all earth, 

Enchanting her promised dower ; 

And her eyes are tinct with elfin dew, 
To give her sight elfin power. 



Lxvm. 

And soon with the rites of Elfin Land 
They shrive the maid from clay ; 

And she, in the joy of the fairy band, 
Is not less gay than they. 



LXIX. 

She revels along as though she ne'er 

"Was born out o' the blue, 
And floats athrough the loving air. 

Scarce knowing she passes through. 



EVA. 81 

LXX. 

And joyously down the azure space, 
They sweep like a stellar shower, 

To meet the Queen at the gathering place, 
By the Brocken on Alyagower. 



EVA. 83 



PART FIFTH. 



YoTing Kevin Avent to the ruin gray, 

Quilted in ivy green, 
Where yestere'en Jiis love did pray, 

And Eva's had plighted been. 



n. 

The young oak branches sighing, bow'd, 
The weird yew wej)t aghast. 

And the ivy leaves, a clustering crowd, 
Shivered as he passed. 



in. 

The sad old ruin lonely stood, 

A solemn sight to see. 
Like one who suflerino; for his lov^e, 



Longs from the earth to flee. 



84 EVA. 

IV. 

Yet there it stood mid the solitude, 
And tlie wave-like graves so dim, 

A beacon rock midst the ghostly flock, 
Beloved unto him. 



V. 

For to him it brought thoughts of love, 

Of purpose high and pure : 
He thankful felt to heaven above, 

And on the earth secure. 



VI. 

Beneath its calm and holy shade, 
His kindling heart had burned, 

And blazed, and spread, until the maid 
Its every glow returned. 



vn. 

And who, though frosted o'er by Time, 

Or varied fortune, can 
Forget the place, where woman's grace 

First made him feel a man. 



EVA. 85 



viir. 



What heart that does not hold the scene, 

As heaven's foretaste here ; 
The purest, best, that eyes caressed ! 

Beyond all others, dear? 



IX. 



God pity him whose peevish fate. 
Or thoughtless, callous ways. 

Cannot witli such remembrance mate 
Sweet comfort, bliss, and praise. 



X. 

And can we wonder Kevin thrilled 
With feelings strangely new. 

Where Eva's yearning bounty filled 
The hopes that burned him through. 



XI. 

The echoes of her blessed voice 
In spreading sounds still seethed 

Around the spot, and the youth's heart caught 
So tightly, he scarce breathed : 



86 EVA. 



xn. 

Lest with the breathing he might fail 

To catch each fancied tone, 
That bade him a life-pathway hew, 
Wide and bright enough for two, 
Nor henceforth be alone. 



XIII. 

The scene, the sounds, the hopes did span 

The youth ; till past control 
Their mingling pleasures over-ran, 

The chalice of his soul ; 



XIV. 

And burst forth into frenzied speech 
Which he could not suppress : 

But what are words to teach, or reach 
The wants of happiness ? 



XV. 

" Ah, happy me ! O chosen one, 
Thy fasting eyes prepare. 
To feast their hungry glances on 
Thy life-absorbing fair ! 



EVA. 87 



XVI. 



" All, liappy me ! O proudest one ! 
Restrain thy throbbing side : 
It swells amain with radiant pain 
Till comes thy radiant bride." 



xvn. 



Ah, well-a-day, and wo is me, 
That hath this tale to tell : 

Would that the elves had left me free 
To break the fairy spell. 



xvni. 

The while young Kevin Dhu devoured 

His brain with hopeful bliss ; 
The gloaming fled, by night o'erpowered. 
And the long grass on the dim graves cowered 

Beneath the dew's cold kiss. 



XIX. 

A shaking ofi* love's lethargy. 
That captive held each limb. 

The doubts and tears, of passion's fears, 
In a torrent burst o'er him. 



88 EVA. 



XX. 



He wandered up, lie wandered down, 

He counted every tomb ; 
They seemed witli a ghoulisli pith 

But mimickino; his doom. 



^ 



XXI. 



Which way he turned — each tomb he read, 

Held nothing to his eye. 
Save these huge hopeless words of dread — 

" Sacred to Memory." 



XXII. 



"With startling apathy he took, 
His eyes from death and clay, 

And up into the heavens did look. 
For some heart-easing ray. 



xxin. 

But as to chill his fibres through. 
And warn his aching sight, 

A black cloud, like a hand, came o'er 
And hid the eye of night. 



EVA. 89 



XXIV 



The weary, sad, siigg-estive tombs, 
The black and dreary cloud, 

The trees like beck'ning funeral plumes. 
The ivy like a shroud ; 



XXV, 



The Dodder's cloud-affrighted waves, 

A moaning, stealthily past. 
The winds that wail doAvn the crooked vale 

And burst into gusts at last : 



XXVI. 



Conveyed to him a weakening sense 

Of desolation near. 
Till he scarce could gasp 'neath the icy grasp 

That crushed his heart with fear. 



XXVII. 



He thought he heard upon the air. 

Around the ruin dim. 
Strange voices mutter as in jjrayer, 

And say — " God pity him." 



90 EVA. 



xxvin. 

His eyes were franglit witli helpless power, 

Into the dark saw he ; 
And he read as plain as at noonday hour — 

" Sacred to Memory." 



XXIX. 

The Cross, as one with outstretched arms 
And head to heaven, did seem 

To tell him that 'gainst charms and harms 
Of earth it was supreme. 



XXX. 

Upon the youth's bleak ashen heart 
This holy thought did move 

The embers, till there leapt apart 
The flames of Faith and Love. 



XXXI. 

The dark distempers of his brain 
Before his Faith rushed out — 
" Oh, dearest love, she'll come again, 
Why — why should I e'er doubt." 



EVA. 91 

XXXII. 

" To-morrow I will clasp my fair 
More bright tlian inonntaiii fay !" 
Tlie sky became more overcast, 
He sliivering Saint Anne's Well past, 
The winds grew wild, more black the sky, 
And the shaggy trees, as he went by. 
In mournful dirges called him back ; 
But he held on his lonely track. 
Sighing, saying, '' Fairest fair. 
More bright than mountain fay !" 
And he took himself, though loth to part. 
From the spot so dear to his hopes and heart, 
And homeward bent his way. 

XXXIII. 

Days, and weeks, and months, and years, 

Passed over, and the youth 
Still paced the place of love and tears, 

Where he had pledged his troth. 

XXXIV. 

He there might pace till Judgment-day, 

Pace he might for ever, 
For her he sought in the min gray, 

Again on earth stood never. 



92 EVA. 



XXXV, 



Beneath tlie Cross i]i that rain gray, 
The tombs right fronting where 

His Eva sat, his manhood's day 
Passed, talking to the air. 



XXXVI. 



And oft he played his harp and sung 

The rhymes he used to sing, 
And oft her name was on his tongue 



In senseless wandering. 



XXXVII. 



And when at deep sun-set he played 

Some plaintive air she loved, 
He thought the rocks and woods betrayed 



A feeling, and were moved. 



XXXVIII. 



The hills seemed leaving the dreary posts 

They had sentinelled for ages. 
And the ravines aroused their minstrel hosts 

To march with their chiefs and sages. 



EVA. . 93 



XXXIX. 



To him the vales more wide did gape, 
The Dodder dull had grown, 

All things seemed longing to escape 
From him, save the Cross alone. 



XL. 



And Kevin at its base grown old, 
A life of calm wo passed. 

To it he clung, his silent, strong, 
And true friend to the last. 



XLI. 

Of years threescore, and more, had fled 
Since he with joy nigh dumb, 

Went forth to meet his Eva sweet 
And still, he thinks, she'll come. 



XLII 

It is a glorious close of day : 
In light and shade the rills 

Gleam fondly in the ruddy ray, 
That nears the western hills. 



94 EVA. 

XUII. 

In smiles of light, the heath, the roclcs, 
Slantwise the sun-heam kissed. 

And rested on old Kevin's locks 
Of tangled silver mist. 



XLIV. 

Anticipating twilight's frown, 
It came by Mercy led, 

And wove a supra-mortal crown 
Around old Kevin's head. 



XLV. 

His spectral fingers o'er the strings 

In trembling labor went ; 
The minstrel and the minstrel's wings 

Of song, are nearly spent. 



XLVI. 

Beneath the friendly Cross his soul's 
Dear cause he whisp'ring pour'd ; 

But sighs like his are organ rolls 
To the ear of Mercy's Lord ! 



EVA. 



XLVII. 



As one who yearns to live alway, 
Eastward he turned his ejes, 

With hopes to see from the nig-lit of clay 
Eternal dawn arise ! 



xLvm. 



His night fell on him as he gazed, 

Ere the sun had wholly fled, 
And the sun-crown shone — Oh, God be praised ! 

O'er the lover-minstrel — dead. 



XLIX. 



On the spot where he love's passion drank, 

On the gray and wiry moss, 
And leaning on his harp, he sank 

In the shadow of the Ceoss. 



NOTES. 



1. "DelightM Glau-uis-mole." 

— Part I., verse xvi., p. 11. 
Glan-nis-mole, or the Vale of Thruslies, a peculiarly wild, ro- 
mantic, and picturesque valley in tlie Dublin mountains. Kippure, 
the highest of this range, lifts its brown head over all the neigh- 
boring hills, at the remote end of the valley. On it the river 
Dodder takes its rise from three springs, which join a short way 
down, and thencs united, springs into the vale, and commences its 
wild and devious course. The writer tracked the river to its 
source, and explored the surrounding hills and glens twenty 
years ago. The 

" Ivy-quilted scanty ruin" 

(stanza xxiv.) then standing, was the remains of a primitive 
Christian church, on the right bank of the Dodder. On the op- 
posite bank the rugged hiUs and table-lands of Alyagower, Kil- 
tippcr, Ballymanock, and the yet more wild Castlekellj-, are 
variously prominent. The " Witched Cornaun," one of the 
Dublin range, better known as the old hill of RoUinstown, and 
nt present called Montpelier, lies to the northeast of Kippure 
As suggested by the name, Glan-nis-mole was famous for thrushes, 
and has been distinguished as the scene of some poems attributed 
to Ossian. The title of one of these is, "The Lay of the Tall 
Woman from beyond the Sea, or the Hunt of Glan-nis-mole."' 

9 



OS NOTES. 

2. " The sunbwun is shed, through a rose-U-af, red 
On a neighboring' ceanavaun." 

— Part I., verse xxxiv., p. lo. 
The ceanavaun, a wild plant, tlie top of which bears a sub- 
stance somewhat resembling cotton, and as white as snow. 

3. " These crosses, like great note-marks, stand 

Referring us to God." 

This metaphor was suggested by J. [De Jean] Eraser's lines — 

"Tlie stars are asterisks in Heaven, 
Kefon-ing ns to God." 

4. " His love was fierce as St. Kevin's hate." 

—Part I., p. 22. 
The legend of the persistent passion of the fair Kathleen for 
St. Kevin, and his equally persistent abhorrence of her attention, 
even to hurling the lovely votaress into the waters of Glenda- 
lough, will be remembered by readers of Moore's Melody — " By 
that Lake whose gloomy shore," and Gerald Griffin's ballad, 
" The Fate of Cathleen." 

5. " His tongue seemed in his fingers." 

— Part I., verse Ixxiii. 
The expression of the hands, in either delight, hate, agony, or 
scorn, is most powerful. In Raphael's cartoons, especially in 
Paul Preaching at Athens, The Death of Ananias, The Sorcerer 
Struck Blind, we can see the wonderful effect of the expression 
of the fingers. They are all speaking, and in the words of 
Shakspeare we may exclaim — 

" I see 'A voice !" 
The subject is too suggestive to be more than indicated in a note. 



NOTKS, 



99 



6. '■ the mystic Well, 

Blessed by the good Saint Anne." 

—Part II., verse x., p. 33, 

lu a previous volume by the writer " Saint Anne's Well" has 
h^n described. A brief extract will be sufficiently explanatory 
of the allusion in the text : 

" The waters are clear and as pure as the soul 
Of the Saint that endowed it. Beneath a green knoll 
It peacefully slumbers in hallowed repose, 
And though always brimming, it never o'erflows ; 
For a side-long trickle leads off the blest flow, 
When its breast is too full, to the Dodder below ; 
And skirts by the little church Kilmosantan, 
Where the green ivy close the old ruin doth span, 
And clings like a lover whose constancy wages 
A war with old Time — growing fonder through ages! 
On these lonely waters the Saint left a spell ; 
Which faith have the people, and thence to the well 
They fly for its draughts ; for the power Saint Anne 
Bestowed on the spring was, that if mortal man 
Was maimed, ill, but fiiitli had, he'd surely get ease. 
If he creep from the well to the church on his knees." 

— " Faith and Fancy," pp. 69-70. 

Its waters are deemed not less efficacious if they can be partaken 
of by a purgatorial sufferer. 

7. " Honey-tongue and Folks-glove." 

— Part III., verse xvi., p. 45. 

Folks-glove, the fairy, or wee folk's glove. The flower com- 
monly called fox-glove. 



100 NOTK3. 

8. " And fairy seannachies with beards 

Of silver tliistle-down." 

— Part III., verse xxiii., p. 4G. 

Seannachie, an ancient historian or story-teller. 

9. " And all ye that wraithe Glancree, 

Or guard the lonely haunted Loughs." 

— Part III., verse xxxiv., p. 50. 

Glancree, a wild and eminently romantic locality. The loughs 
alluded to are the contiguous lakes, but which are known a» 
" Lough Bray." There are two, the upper and lower. The latter 
is the more picturesque. It is wild and solitary, situated up in 
the mountains, and presents evidence warranting the belief that 
it is the crater of an extinct volcano. The fairies have great 
repute hereabouts 



C 32 89 'i 



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